Christmas cheer boosts pub group’s sales
Birmingham-based pubco Mitchells & Butlers has been boosted by a strong performance over the key festive period which it said demonstrates the breadth of appeal of its brands for special occasions.
In a first quarter trading update, covering the 14 weeks ended 4 January 2020, the group said it traded well over the core three-week festive period, with like-for-like sales growth of 5.6%, including strong performances on all of the key festive days.
Overall sales have strengthened over the period since its last update with like-for-like growth of 3.5% in the seven weeks to January 4, with particularly strong food sales growth.
Food sales in the seven weeks to Jan 4 were up by 4.0% like-for-like with wet sales +2.7% over the same period.
Like-for-like sales for the 14 weeks to January 4 are up by 2.6% in total with food up 3% and drink sales +1.8%.
Total sales have increased by 2.7% over the full year to date.
In the year to date Mitchells & Butlers said it has already completed 81 conversions and remodels and opened one new site as it continues to improve amenity, and “premiumise” sites where possible.
“We remain encouraged by the returns being generated,” the group said.
Phil Urban, chief executive, said: “We are pleased with our trading performance over the festive trading season against a strong set of results last year, again demonstrating the breadth of appeal of our brands for special occasions. We achieved record sales levels across the five key festive days at growth of 6.5%. This continued progress reflects the output of our Ignite initiatives which will continue to be our focus for the year ahead.”
